Adaptive variation in structure and function of kidneys of speciating subterranean mole rats.

We report on kidney structure and function in subterranean mammals of four chromosomal species (2n=52, 54, 58 and 60) belonging to the Spalax ehrenbergi superspecies, in relation to their speciation and adaptive radiation from mesic (2n=52) to xeric (2n=60) environments in Israel. Structural variables measured involved: (1) Relative Medullary Thickness, (RMT); (2) Relative Kidney Weight. (RKW); and (3) Percentage of Kidney out of Body Weight (PKW).

Normalization of skin appearance in a patient with scleromyxoedema after intensive chemotherapy for Hodgkin's disease.

A patient with scleromyxoedema was treated for 6 years with cytostatic drugs. During this time the skin lesions followed a fluctuating but progressive course. After 6 years she developed Hodgkin's lymphoma of the mixed cellularity type.

The network trilogy project: linking aging, mental health and health agencies.

There is a striking disparity between the estimated need for mental health care by 18-25% of the nation's elderly, and the minimal utilization of private and publicly funded services by this age cohort. Recognition that the elderly are not well served by existing systems led a trilogy of major Philadelphia aging, mental health, and health organizations to form a partnership for the purpose of improving, expanding, and integrating service delivery for a segment of the population which has been overlooked. A training model was devised to overcome the organizational isolation of agencies serving mutual clients with interrelated problems.

Adaptive energy metabolism in four chromosomal species of subterranean mole rats.

Gross energy intake and apparent dry matter digestibility of animals fed carrots ad lib in the laboratory, were measured in the four chromosomal species of the Spalax ehrenbergi superspecies in Israel. Gross energy intake of 132.8 and 155.

Altered activity of the locus coeruleus in an animal model of depression.

In rats showing depression of active behavior, locus coeruleus (LC) neurons were not inhibited as they are normally; in particular, electrophysiologic recording showed LC neurons were hyperresponsive to excitatory input. Moreover, the degree to which LC neurons of individual animals were hyperresponsive correlated positively with the degree to which active behavior was depressed. Recently, hyperresponsiveness of LC neurons has been found to occur when the inhibitory influence of alpha 2-receptors on LC firing is blocked.

Oscillations of conduction, action potential duration, and refractoriness. A mechanism for spontaneous termination of reentrant tachycardias.

The mechanism of cycle length oscillation and its role in spontaneous termination of reentry was studied in an in vitro preparation of canine atrial tissue surrounding the tricuspid orifice. Reentry occurred around a fixed path with incomplete recovery of excitability. Among 18 experiments, there was complete concordance between the occurrence of spontaneous cycle length oscillation and spontaneous terminations; both were observed in 10 experiments and neither in the other eight (p less than 0.

Comparison of the distribution of tissue kallikrein and esterase A, a kallikrein-like enzyme, in rat kidney using specific monoclonal antibodies.

Tissue kallikrein (E.C. 3.

The N2 component elicited by stimulus matches and multiple targets.

This paper examines two methodological issues concerning the N2 component of human event-related potentials. The first issue concerns the circumstance that the most common way to obtain N2 in discrimination tasks is with an infrequent deviant stimulus that mismatches a frequent, standard stimulus. In these studies it is not possible to disentangle the effects of stimulus probability and stimulus mismatch on N2.

Pertussis toxin blocks the effects of alpha 2-agonists and antagonists on locus coeruleus activity in vivo.

This study assessed the effects of pertussis toxin, which is known to inactivate G proteins and therefore to block receptors linked to G proteins, on electrophysiological activity of the locus coeruleus in vivo. Pertussis toxin was injected into the lateral cerebral ventricle of rats, and locus coeruleus activity was then recorded. Compared to vehicle-injected control animals, pretreatment with pertussis toxin markedly increased the spontaneous firing rate of locus coeruleus neurons.

Immunocytochemical localization of a kallikrein-like serine protease (esterase A) in rat salivary glands.

Light and electron microscopic (EM) immunocytochemical methods have been used to localize arginine esterase A, a kinin-generating enzyme immunologically similar to tissue kallikrein, in rat salivary glands. Both polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies to arginine esterase A were used in these studies. By means of a polyclonal antiserum, esterase A was found in granular tubules of submandibular glands and in striated ducts of all three major salivary glands, in a distribution similar to that of tissue kallikrein.

Medicolegal investigation of an eighteenth century homicide.

The skeleton of an adult man, recovered from an eighteenth century French fort site in Indiana, exhibited a series of sharp force wounds. The lesions, three cranial and one postcranial, had apparently been made by a heavy metal instrument similar to one of the European ax heads discovered elsewhere at the site. In this paper we describe the wounds, argue that the instrument used to create them was a European ax, and offer the opinion that the manner of death in this case was homicide.

Effects of the amount of stimulus information processed on negative event-related potentials.

Event-related potentials were recorded during simple reaction time and 3 discrimination conditions which varied in the amount of stimulus information that needed to be processed. It was found that NA became longer in duration as the amount of stimulus information that required processing was increased. Using sequential topographic mapping, it was concluded that there are at least 3 overlapping deflections that comprise NA.

A new cuffed oesophageal prosthesis for the management of malignant oesophago-respiratory fistula.

Malignant oesophago-respiratory fistula is an incurable and distressing condition. Surgery is difficult, unsatisfactory or impossible, and standard oesophageal tubes often fail to occlude the fistula. A new tube is described which relieves dysphagia and occludes the fistula without risk of pressure necrosis.

Flow cytochemical patterns of white blood cells in human hematopoietic malignancies: III. Miscellaneous hemopoietic diseases.

Peripheral blood samples from 48 untreated and 20 treated patients with disease entities that directly or indirectly affect hematopoiesis [dys-myelopoietic syndrome (DMS), refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB) or in transformation (RAEBIT), lymphoma, myeloma, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and solid tumors with uninvolved bone marrow] were measured with the Technicon H-6000 automated hematology analyzer; this instrument provides a differential count on 10(4) white blood cells (WBC) effected by means of flow cytochemistry (peroxidase content) and volume (light scatter) discrimination. Cases with DMS and RAEB showed statistically significantly lower WBC counts than normal, whereas cases with lymphoma showed significantly higher values. No disease entity demonstrated changes in mean peroxidase activity (MPA) that were significantly different from normal, although all disease entities, including cases with solid tumors, showed significantly higher (two to severalfold) proportions of cells with high peroxidase (HPX) content, probably as a reflection of a disturbance of normal hemopoiesis with the emergence of younger granulocytic forms.

Malignant atrophic papulosis (Degos' disease)--diffuse involvement of brain and bowel in an African patient.

We report pathognomonic skin lesions of malignant atrophic papulosis, accompanied by lethal central nervous system and gastrointestinal disease in a 22-year-old black man. Histopathological studies of the brain and colon showed areas of infarction and an underlying vasculitis with leukocytoclasis.

Alterations in the initial portion of the signal-averaged QRS complex in acute myocardial infarction with ventricular tachycardia.

This study was designed to examine 2 hypotheses: that acute myocardial infarction (AMI) alters early cardiac activation measured by signal-averaging; and that the magnitude of abnormality of early activation may be greater in patients with post-AMI ventricular tachycardia (VT). We examined the root-mean square voltage amplitude in 10-ms intervals over the first 80-ms of the signal-averaged QRS complex. Data from 42 healthy volunteers were compared with those from 52 patients with previous AMI (24 anterior) but no VT and 46 post-AMI patients (33 anterior AMI) with recurrent sustained VT.

Clinical evaluation of a medical image management system for chest images.

The clinical efficacy and physicians' assessment of a medical image management system (MIMS) for chest images that involved the medical intensive care unit (MICU) and the radiology department were evaluated. A token-passing fiber-optic network was implemented to connect display stations in the MICU and in the chest reading area in the radiology department with a laser film digitizer and an archiving system. To study the clinical efficacy of this system, blocks of 8 weeks during which portable chest images were digitized and immediately made available in the MICU were alternated with blocks of 8 weeks during which film images only were available.

A computer model of the electrogram: what causes fractionation?

Fractionated electrograms are frequently recorded during mapping studies in patients with coronary artery disease and ventricular tachycardia. The authors developed a computer model of electrogram generation based on the biophysics of volume conductor fields. They show that fractionated electrograms can be produced as otherwise uniform wavefronts of activation encounter regions of increased cellular coupling resistance.

Neurochemical and electrophysiological events underlying stress-induced depression in an animal model.

This paper has described an animal (rodent) model of depression in which depression-like characteristics are produced by exposure of animals to stressful events that they cannot control. This model, called "stress-induced depression," appears to be mediated by stress-induced changes in brain norepinephrine (NE), and evidence now indicates that a large depletion of NE in the Locus Coeruleus region of the brain stem (LC) is critical for producing the behavioral disturbance seen in this model. To explain the functional significance of NE depletion in the LC, it has been suggested that this change results in decreased stimulation, (i.

A model of conduction through the N region of the AV node.

A computer model of the AV node was developed in order to study mechanisms of conduction delay in the AV node. Three cells were used corresponding to the AN, N, and NH region. The basic mechanisms for delay were a high intercellular resistance and a delayed, time dependent recovery of excitability in the center cell.

Rat urinary kallikrein localization in kidney: effects of fixation.

The influence of fixation on the immunocytochemical localization of tissue kallikrein in the kidney has been evaluated using both monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. These studies have provided several results relevant to kallikrein localization in kidney: (1) the intensity and distribution of immunostaining with both polyclonal and monoclonal anti-kallikrein antibodies is fixation-dependent; (2) the most intense and consistent localizations of kallikrein are in the connecting tubule and the cortical collecting duct of the nephron; (3) kallikrein-like immunoreactivity is seen in proximal tubules with polyclonal but not with non-cross-reactive monoclonal antibodies; and (4) fixatives which disrupt membranes reveal a kallikrein-like antigen in straight tubules of the outer medulla. However, immunostaining with monoclonal antibodies indicates that much of the observed immunostaining at this site probably represents cross-reactivity with another member of the kallikrein family of enzymes.

A random phase II study of mitoxantrone and cisplatin in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. An ECOG study.

Of 86 patients entered in an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) random Phase II study of mitoxantrone (DHAD) and cisplatin (DDP) in primary liver cancer, 69 were eligible. Nine of the 13 ineligible patients were excluded after a pathology review. Sixty-one percent of the patients were North American, and 39% were South African.